Will the Black Hollywood Elite Support President Obama the Second Time Around?

Will the Black Hollywood Elite Support President Obama the Second Time Around? (Wikipedia)

Will the black Hollywood elite, which includes Samuel L. Jackson, Pauletta Washington (Denzel Washington’s wife) and Debbie Allen, support President Obama the second time around? It’s interesting, since some like Samuel L. Jackson, have expressed some ambivalence to his performance thus far. I guess I can ask the question of what has the black Hollywood elite done for blacks in the inner cities?

Daily Beast, Samuel L. Jackson says, “Some days I agree with Dr. West and what he says about the president not dealing enough with the plight of the poor” says Jackson. “Then I think about how they won’t give him credit for anything… The president got about a week of moderate applause for capturing the most-wanted man in the world. You ask me, he should have put that motherf*cker on ice and defrosted his ass Nov. 1.”

There are also those players behind the scene, such as well-known retired lawyer Michael Lawson and his wife, Mattie Lawson, who have raised nearly $2 million for his various campaigns. Mattie Lawson didn’t want to support him in 2008, but changed her tune once she got to know him. They are ready to support the president’s reelection campaign.

President Obama is in a tough reelection race because many blacks are disillusioned with his record, particularly since many remain unemployed and having a hard time making ends meet. Many blacks, like staunch critics Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, believe his lack of attention to the needs of blacks and the poor will spell doom for his reelection. For me, it comes down to retraining and getting the right skillset. That should be pushed on the state level and not the federal level. If we can get more people retrained for careers involving healthcare, technology and manufacturing, for example, then we would be on our way to seeing a significant drop in the high unemployment rates and the middle class rising once again.

As for the black Hollywood elite, I’m pretty sure they have a vested interest in seeing President Obama win reelection and not Newt Gingrich. So, it’s a moot point, in my opinion to speculate on them failing to turn out in support of Barack Obama.